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Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Your kids will love learning about the Amazon rainforest predators. And I have more ideas on my pages Rain Forest – Amazon, Rain Forest – Animals of the Amazon, and Rainforest Amazon Activities for Kids.

The Amazon rainforest predators are bold, fierce, and cunning.

And they use different adaptations to survive and catch their prey.

They make a fascinating part of a solid Amazon rainforest unit. Study predator’s hunting range which goes from the water to the forest floor and all the way up into the emergent layer as they swim, run, slither, and fly to catch their prey.

Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Grab a hands-on activity or two, learn a few new vocabulary words, and hunt up some predator fun with these resources I have gathered for you.

In addition, I have a simple pasta emerald tree boa craft for your child to create.

Amazon Rainforest Predators Facts

  • Poison dart frogs are one of the deadliest animals on earth. Although they are cute, their skin has enough poison in it to kill 10 adults.
  • The jaguar is the 3rd largest of the big cats and is the main predator in the rain forest and they feed on over 80 species of animals.
  • Green anaconda snakes are non-venomous but lethal because they suffocate their prey with their strong bodies.
  • The black caiman makes its home in the waters of the Amazon basin and is considered the biggest predator of the Amazon ecosystem. Reaching lengths of 20 ft long, they feed on a wide variety of birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals.
  • The giant otter is considered an apex predator in the rainforest. Giant otters are quick and strong, and cunning. Too, they have even been spotted killing and eating caiman and anaconda.
  • Harpy eagles, when full grown, are at the top of the food chain and have the largest talons of any eagle.
  • The Amazon Basin emerald tree boa is an arboreal species, it lives in trees, are nocturnal and have prehensile tails that grasp things, and can reach lengths of 6-9 ft.
Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Amazon Rainforest Predators Vocabulary

Introduce some new vocabulary and spelling words to your child.

Here are a few key words and phrases that may come up during your study of Amazon Rainforest Predators to get started with.

  • Predator-an animal that naturally preys on others.
  • Prey-an animal that is caught and killed by another animal for food.
  • Food Chain- list of organisms in a habitat that shows their feeding relationships.
  • Food Web-interlocking pattern of food chains.
  • Carnivore- an animal or plant that eats the flesh of others.
  • Omnivore-an animal that eats both plants and animal materials.
  • Instinct- A natural born pattern of behavior.
Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

In addition, look at these books about the rain forest.

16 Rain Forest Animals For Kids Books & Resources

Add these rain forest animal books, games, and toys to round out your study of the animals of the rain forest.

More Rainforest Activities for Kids

Next, add some of these hands-on Amazon predators activities.

Hands-On Amazon Rainforest Predators Activities

Choose an activity to highlight one of these cunning predators from this list.

  • Create two mats by writing predator and pray at the top on construction paper, use plastic amazon animals to sort them into their proper categories.
Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Amazon Rainforest Predators- Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

You will need:

  • Tube pasta
  • Bright green paint
  • Gallon ziploc bag
  • Pipe cleaners
  • White paint
  • Paintbrush
  • Hot glue gun/glue

Grab a handful of uncooked pasta and place it in a gallon storage bag. You can use any kind of larger diameter tubular pasta like penne, Cannelloni, or even Ditalini.

Squirt a couple teaspoons of paint into the bag on top of the pasta.

Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Shake and knead the bag gently to massage to paint all over the pasta, be sure it’s well coated.

Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Transfer pasta to a paper or baking sheet to dry and spread it out a bit so it doesn’t dry clumped together.

If it dries on paper it might stick, I stop this by rolling it around after a few minutes of drying time.

Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Once the pasta is dry, thread it onto 2-3 pipe cleaners that have been twisted together end to end to make it if you want it.

Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Use hot glue to secure the pieces on each end but leave the rest loose. I left at least 1” of extra space without painted pasta so the snake could be posed and moved around easily.

Paint a white line all the way down the back with a small paintbrush or a paint pen then make small marks down each side along the length of the snake to mimic the markings on the Emerald Tree Boa.

Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

 Finish off by using a marker to draw eyes one either side of the head and add slits for the eyes.

Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Look how to make these fun red eyed tree frog manipulatives to use for rain forest math. And I have more ideas on my pages Rain Forest – Amazon, Rain Forest – Animals of the Amazon, and Rainforest Amazon Activities for Kids

Besides, creating these adorable red eyed tree frogs can be used for a multitude of fun rain forest math activities.

This is a wonderful way to incorporate math with a matching theme into your rainforest unit study.

Also, you sneak in some science, fine motor skills, art, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

For example, if you are having your child create the frog manipulatives take a moment to research Amazon lily pads.

Rather than the typical small lily pad with a notch in the side, the Victoria Amazonica is the largest member of the water lily family.

And is a massive round shape with upturned edges which can reach up to 8 feet in width.

This is why we are going to create a perfectly round shape for our lily pads to go along with our red-eyed tree frogs.

Before jumping to some fun rain forest math, look at a few fun facts about red eye tree frogs.

7 Facts about Red Eyed Tree Frogs

  • They are nocturnal.
  • A red-eyed tree frog will change its skin color to blend in with surroundings.
  • The big red eyes are a defense mechanism.
  • Red eyed tree frogs are in the Hylidae family of frogs known as tree frogs.
  • They have bright leaf green bodies.
  • They are small, about 1 inch and have sticky pads on their toes and fingers.
  • The red-eyed tree frog has three eyelids.

9 Rain Forest Math Concepts

Next, look at some rain forest math ideas to add to your study for the day or your rainforest unit study.

1. Addition/Subtraction Rain Forest Math

The obvious way to use them for addition is to count them but there are many ways to mix it up to keep it from becoming boring. 

  • Take the green circles you cut out and write numbers or use dots to represent the numbers then have your child place the matching number of button frogs on the lily pad.
Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math
  • Write simple addition or subtraction problems on the lily pads and have your child use the frogs as manipulatives to solve the problem.
Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math
  • Roll dice to get your two numbers and use them to create addition or subtraction problems.

2. One-to-One Correspondence Rain Forest Math

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Your youngest learners will first need to learn this skill to help them grasp the value of objects. Have them point to each one as they count-1,2,3, etc.

3. Number Line

Grab a piece of blue paper (for your Amazon River of course), cut it out in a strip and write out your number line 1-10 or make it higher by taping strips end to end if you need to. This is yet another way to practice addition and subtraction.

  • Have them start their frog on a particular number and have them add/or subtract by another smaller number.
  • For older children, you could even make negative numbers on the left side of the number line. 

4. Sorting

Have your child sort from

  •  largest to smallest or small, medium, large, or even just small and large.
  • They can even simply sort by color shade if you have a mix of light and dark green buttons, sorting colors is an important early math skill.

5. Arrays

Use your button tree frogs for multiplication. One of the ways we can teach the concept of multiplication is through arrays. Arrays are simply an arrangement of evenly spaced columns and rows to demonstrate a number.

  • For example, show 2×3 by placing two rows and three columns of buttons to equal 6.

6. Fractions

Create fractions with the frogs.

  • Lay out 4 frogs and have your child show you what ½ or ¼ of the frogs are.
  • Write fractions on the lily pads and use the frogs to figure them out.

7. Skip Counting

Lay out as many frog manipulatives as you like and have your child skip by 2’s or any other number by pointing to the objects, this helps make it a concrete rather than an abstract process.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

8. Number Chart

Use the frog manipulatives to move around on a 100’s chart to count, skip count, or find 1 less and 1 more.

9. Greater Than/Less Than

Draw an Inequality symbol on one of the lily pads and create problems by placing various amounts of frogs on either side.

Then, have your child turn the symbol to so that it is in the correct orientation.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Also, look at this list if you want to add a few rain forest books or resources to your study.

16 Rain Forest Animals For Kids Books & Resources

Add these rain forest animal books, games, and toys to round out your study of the animals of the rain forest.

More Rainforest Activities for Kids

Finally, look how to make cute red-eyed tree frogs to use to teach rain forest math.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Rain Forest Math Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives

You will need:

  • Green buttons in various sizes
  • Red cardstock/construction paper
  • Hole punch
  • Craft glue

Additional items for activities:

  • Dice
  • Blue construction paper
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Gallon zippered bag

Gather as many green buttons as you think you will need. For younger children start with 10 for simple math problems. Once you get going the process is quick and you can have dozens made in no time.

Hole punch red paper two times for each button you have.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Add a small slit down the center of each dot with a pen. You may find it easier to do this step after they are glued in place but either way is fine.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Add two dots of glue and attach the eyes.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Set aside to dry.

While the glue is drying on the eyes, trace a circle object about 3”-4” wide onto green construction paper to make lily pads. It’s up to you how many you cut but I recommend starting with 10. There are so many ways you can use these.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Now, once your frogs are dry you can use them for math for multiple ages from toddlers up to kids working on multiplication and fractions.

You could also grab these cute and colorful Amazon frogs to use as manipulatives if you wanted to skip making them and still use the additional items we create with them.

 Pop all your supplies in a gallon ziploc bag to keep them together and then you also have a math pack that you can take on the go and practice with anywhere.

Waiting at the doctor’s office, or at a restaurant, or take them on a trip to the park for homeschool on a blanket.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a cute toilet paper roll rainforest frog craft. And I have more ideas on my pages Rain Forest – Amazon, Rain Forest – Animals of the Amazon, and Rainforest Amazon Activities for Kids

If you spend any time studying the Amazon Rainforest one of the first things that pops up is probably the smallest.

The tiny colorful little frogs that make their home in Amazon Rain Forest are beautiful, some poisonous, and some still much a mystery.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

If you are studying the rainforest you will want to camp out and study these fascinating little leapers for a while.

You’ll want to find out about their beautiful color and amazing adaptations, understand which are poisonous, where they fit in the food web, and how they survive the treacherous conditions there.

While you enjoy a study of the Amazon Rainforest, I have a rainforest frog craft for you that can be customized to create colors just as varied and beautiful as you will find in the thick greenery of the Amazon.

If you were trekking through the rain forest some of the frogs you might see are:

  • Red-Eyed Tree Frogs
  • Poison Dart Frogs
  • Emerald Glass Frog
  • Splendid Leaf Frog
  • Smokey Jungle Frog
  • Golden Poison Frog

10 Rainforest Frog Facts

  1. Most poison dart frogs are about the size of a quarter.
  2. One interesting feature of the red-eyed tree frog is that as it is jumping and untucks its brightly colored legs it startles predators, giving it more time to escape.
  3. Poison Dart frogs are immune to their own poison due to special sodium chambers that protect them.
  4. The tiny Golden Poison Frog is likely the most poisonous animal on Earth.
  5. Toxins from poison dart frog skin have been found to have valuable medicinal uses.
  6. There is strong evidence to suggest there is a correlation between the vibrancy of their skin and the amount of alkaloid toxins the frogs have.
  7. Female, red-eyed tree frogs lay their eggs above the water. When the eggs are ready to hatch, the tadpoles inside start moving vigorously, this breaks the egg open, and they fall into the water below.
  8. Rainforest frogs’ lifespan is about 20 to 30 years.
  9. Rainforest frogs prefer crickets, flies, grasshoppers, and moths. But they will even eat smaller frogs.
  10. There have been more than 427 species of frogs found in the Amazon Rainforest.

Also, add some of these books and resources to learn about frogs.

11 Frog & Toad Unit Study Resources

Add a book or two or some fun hands-on resources to your unit study.

More Rainforest Frog Crafts

Then, here are some more rainforest frog crafts.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Then, here are more rainforest activities for kids.

More Rainforest Activities for Kids

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Finally, look how to make these adorable rainforest toilet paper frogs.

Rainforest Frog Craft-Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs

First, do a little research on the Internet or by looking through books to determine what types of frogs live in the Amazon rainforest.

This will help you choose your paint colors and the patterns on the frogs. For younger children feel free to just let them freely paint with bright colors while you talk about the different rainforest frogs.

You will need:

  • Bright construction paper/cardstock
  • empty toilet paper rolls
  • Bright craft paints
  • Craft or hot glue
  • Buttons
  • Scissors

Cut toilet paper rolls in half.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

On one end of each toilet paper roll press the sides inward slightly and then crease. Flatten this end partly.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

At the opposite end press flat and glue, hold in place until the glue dries, or use clothespins or paper clips to hold it together.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Once dry paint the entire outer toilet paper roll with whatever base color you like.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

While waiting for the bodies to dry, work on the legs.

Remember the old accordion fans you used to make as a child? You are going to repeat that accordion fold on each of the legs for each frog.

Cut the construction paper into quarter-inch strips and then cut it in half. You want them about 6” long. Crease each fold firmly as you go back and forth to give it a good “spring”.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Cut out some feet with rounded toes.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Glue a foot onto the end of each leg.

Now, even if your paint is still a bit wet you can add some detail with more paint like dots and stripes and add some to the legs too.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Allow everything to dry completely.

Flip your frog over and attach the legs to the underside.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Flip it back over and fold down ½” to form the mouth.

To finish off your frog, glue the button eyes to the top of the head. You can add slits to the red eyes to really make them look realistic.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

Create a whole colorful army of rainforest frogs to decorate with.

Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft

20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have 20 fun summer learning activities and we’re making a rock sundial. And look at 11 Fun Summer Activities for Middle Schoolers for more summer fun.

Are you looking for fun summer learning activities? Whether you teach year-round or take the summer off there is no reason that learning must end.

One of the best things about homeschooling is that learning can be fun and takes place all year long, even in the long hot days of summer.

20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

A simple rock sundial is not only a fun and frugal summer activity, but there is much to learn.

Look at what you learn when you make a simple rock sundial.

  1. good way to work on telling time
  2. problem-solving
  3. the history of telling time
  4. learning about the Earth’s rotation
  5. shadows,
  6. and enjoying some fresh air.

You can use this activity for preschool and up, creating more challenging tasks for different ages.

More Summer Learning Activities

Also, look at more summer learning activities below.

20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

Then, look at these fun summer learning activities.

20 Summer Learning Activities

I am also giving you a wonderful list of fun summer learning activities to keep them busy all sunny summer long including water play, tasty treats, messy fun, and many more hands-on activities.

Finally, look at how to make the fun rock sundial.

20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

How to Make a Rock Sundial

Obviously, this wasn’t a foolproof way to tell time because it didn’t work at night. But it was an early innovative technique that paved the way for later more advanced time telling.

People used sundials to keep track of time by watching where the shadow falls on its surface.

The sun seems to move across the sky during the day due to the earth slowly spinning on its axis. 

The various positions of the sun in the sky during the day causes the shadow to move on the sundial, showing the change of time.

You will notice each day that the shadow falls very close to where it was the day before demonstrating the accuracy of the sundial.

In the morning the shadow continues to get shorter and shorter as noon approaches. 

Then, in the afternoon, the shadow gets longer and longer.

Observe the length of the shadow on the sundial throughout the day.

Is it longer in the morning or late afternoon?

Kids Rock Sundial

You will need:

  • A straight stick
  • 12 flat smooth rocks
  • Sharpie
  • Phone or clock
  • Compass
20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

Directions:

First, find an area of your yard that gets full sun all day, you can start any time of day when there is sun but it may take a full 24 hours or more to get all the times set.

Use a Sharpie or paint marker to write 1-12 on each rock.

20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

Set a timer on your phone to go off every hour on the hour.

Push a fairly straight sturdy stick into the soil, and tilt it slightly to the north.

You can find this out with a compass or use the compass on your phone.

20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

When you are on the hour, go check the direction in which the shadow from the stick is pointing and add your first corresponding numbered stone.

Throughout the day, on each hour add the next numbered rock to the end of the shadow until you have completed your clock.

You can repeat this experiment several times to make sure your numbers are in the correct space. Then try learning time at :30 as well as on the hour.

20 Fun Summer Learning Activities And Make A Rock Sundial

100 Easy & Fun Ancient Civilization Hands-on Projects (Free List)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have 100 hands on history ancient civilizations projects. Also, look at my Ancient Civilizations and Ancient Civilizations II pages.

Whether you’re studying about the Ancient Phoenicians, Ancient Sumer and Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt and Greece, you’ll love this round up of 100 easy and fun Ancient Civilization ideas.

100 Easy & Fun Ancient Civilization Hands-on Projects (Free List)

I’ve included the following Ancient Civilizations in this awesome roundup.

  • Ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamia
  • Ancient Phoenicia
  • Ancient Babylon & Assyria
  • Ancient China
  • Ancient Greek
  • Ancient Roman and
  • Ancient Vikings.

EASY HANDS-ON IDEAS FOR ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

Also, add some of these fun hands-on resources to your study for the day.

13 Ancient Civilization Hands-on Resources and Books

Add some of these fun resources to your unit study or study for the day of Ancient Civilizations.

Moreover, look at more of these hands-on ancient civlization posts.

1OO Ancient Civilization Hands-on History Projects. Learning shouldn't be hard, but it should be meaningful. Grab these 100 ideas over at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

So, on my 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together, I show you step by step how to create a unit for a topic you choose. It’s not so hard if you have a pattern to follow.

Also, don’t forget to check out Home School in the Woods. It has been one of our favorite Ancient Civilization hands-on history resources for years.

Ancient Empires

Ancient Egypt

Another easy way to bring Ancient history to life is through fun coloring pages. These pages can be added to any unit study, lapbook or notebooking page or can be used alone.

Grab them below!

How to Get the Free 100 Hands-on Ancient Civilization Ideas

Now, how to grab the freebie. This is a subscriber freebie.

 1)  CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.
2) Grab the freebie now.
3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects.

Learning about history shouldn't just be fun, but meaningful. And meaningful shouldn't mean stressed out for you as you plan Ancient Civilization hands-on projects. My standard for hands-on is always the same - EASY. Grab this AWESOME round up of over 100 Hands-on Activities for learning about Ancient Civilizations. Click here!